Moana: The Disney Princess Beginnings Series

Disney Princess Beginnings / Disney Before the Story #7

by Suzanne Francis

Disney Princess Beginnings is an exciting chapter book series featuring all-new stories about each Disney Princess as a young girl!

Young Moana is always ready for a new challenge! It is eight-year-old Moana's first time participating in the Tiale celebration--a festival that occurs every ten years and honors a brave female ancestor. Thanks to determination and coaching from her mother, Moana competes in the cliff diving competition! Children ages 6 to 9 who are independent readers will love this new chapter book based on Disney's Moana and featuring full-color illustrations! Each Disney Princess Beginnings chapter book features all-new stories about a Disney Princess as a young girl.
Disney's Dream Big, Princess campaign focuses on the amazing stories and leadership qualities of each Disney Princess and shows how they relate to today's girl.

Genres: Chapter Books, Childrens, Fantasy, Audiobook, Middle Grade

1 pages, Audio CD

First published July 3, 2019

Reviews

[Rachel Mantas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice, easy listening for a younger crowd. The tone is set to children's ears.

[Jessica Di Salvio · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was way more childish than the others. It gives 4-5 years old instead of 8-9. The story was great tho, just the writing that was too much babyish.

[Sarah - All The Book Blog Names Are Taken]

Eleanor says she would give this book four stars. I personally chose to give it five.

Eleanor has decided she does not want to write full reviews for books right now, but her favorite part of this story was when Moana practiced cliff diving and when she competed in the cliff diving competition.

[Cadee · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I like this book because when Moana finds out that her mom is a cliff diver and Moana practiced to be just like her. Moana got so excited she wanted to start cliff diving and then she fell on her first time and hurt yourself. She couldn't compete in the cliff diving contest this time but maybe the next time if she feels better." - Cadee, age 9

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

My five year old daughter and I are reading through this series. She loves hearing continued stories into the worlds of her favorite Disney princesses. Moana's was fun!

[Joey Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s the Tiale celebrations where it’s split into five rounds of competition first to find the flower, then the competing really begins with canoe races, swimming, cliff diving and rock climbing. Moana plans on entering each of them but needs some help with her cliff diving.

This was a really cute book and I loved seeing more of Moana as a child and her island life. I did find I had some issues with this book, but generally I found I absolutely loved it.

I loved the story of Tiale and how Gramma Tala tells it like all her other stories. Moana had such a strong determination and really wanted to learn to be part of every event. It was sweet getting some scenes with her mother teaching her and their connection.

What I found a bit inaccurate was that we had a lot of water activities and her dad the Chief in the movie is against the water. He sends his fishermen only, so I did find it strange that he’d allow his people and daughter to canoe out in the water and to swim in it too. That’s not to say reading it wasn’t fun it really was and I loved these competition events, but at the back of my mind the whole time it was saying that this wasn’t accurate and he wouldn’t allow this. But oh well.

I did really enjoy this story we got a amazing island story, moana’s best friend on the island more Pua and HeiHei, Moana doing even more amazing feats and more family connection. It was a really adorable story and fits perfectly with Moana’s actual story that we already know.

[Anni1999 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Das Cover war wirklich wunderschön. Ich finde es toll die junge Vaiana zu sehen zusammen mit der Tiale - Blume. Die Geschichte hat mir total gut gefallen. Ich finde es toll wie wir Vaiana bei ihren ersten Tiala- Fest begleiten. Wir erleben mit ihr gemeinsam die Wettbewerbe, wie sie neue Dinge kernt und ihre Angst überwindet. Besonders gut finde ich, dass die Legende von Tiale erzählt wird. Ich liebe diese Legende sie ist voller Spannung, Mut und Liebe. Ich finde die Geschichte lässt uns Vaiana besser kennenlernen und die spätere Vaiana besser verstehen. Der Schreibstil war sehr schön zu lesen und ich bin nur so durch die Geschichte geflogen. Ich liebe die Disney: Es war einmal Reihe und finde es toll, dass Vaiana ebenfalls ein eigenes Buch dazu bekommen hat. Für alle großen und kleinen Disney Prinzessinnen Fans super geeignet und ein wahres Must Have.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded up.

A very sweet little Moana chapter book. Definitely a good read for kids since it has such a strong emphasis on the importance of bravery. But also still relatively enjoyable for adults if you're a Moana/Disney Princess fan. I loved the little moments of foreshadowing that teased Moana's future adventures in her first film. And all the interactions with her family were very sweet. (Damn, how lucky Moana is to have two living, loving parents in her life. And a living, loving grandma, at least as of the timing of this book.) I also can't get enough of the Polynesian mythology stories that have been woven into many of the Moana books (namely this one and the first movie's novelization). Makes me wanna dive deeper into that subject (and maybe I will someday).

[Chloe (Always Booked) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute book about Moana and one of the traditional festivals in her culture. She's trying to find a flower and when she does, competitions will begin. She's confident in all of them except for cliff diving, but her mom was an expert cliff diver, so they bond as she teaches her the ways. I have never seen Moana so I wasn't attached to the characters or the culture, but it was a sweet read regardless.

[Sunny Kim]

It is a adventures book to read. I like Moana's personality and courage.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will Moana learn to cliff dive in time for the Tiale celebration competitions? Find out in this installment of Disney Princess Beginnings.

[Mely · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun story with our favorite, loveable characters.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was quite impressed with this Disney chapter book. Some of them can leave a bit to be desired, but that wasn’t the case here. I enjoyed the lead up to the festival the best.

[Hee K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Catching up on reviews. We love all things Moana, and this book was no different!

[Samantha Clysdale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how the story was about their culture, asking for help, learning how to not give up on wanting to do something and the love of family.

[shernet gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed it ☺

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was adorable. Plus, my ebook copy from the library included 9 short stories afterwards featuring Pua, HeiHei, and the shiny crab, just to name a few. They were all so much fun to read!

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moana was the first one to find the Tiale flower.

[Freja · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a lot better than I expected, and I was very surprised that Sina was the teacher! And I also love Pua!

[Heather Cumbo · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter is 8 years old like Moana in this book. My daughter doesn't cliff dive.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading this story, felt like I was watching the Moana movie but the younger years

[mreadsbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rep: Polynesian cis girl MC (Moana); Polynesian cis girl SC (Vailele); Polynesian cis woman and cis man SCs (Sina, Gramma Tala, Tui, etc.)